What is Somatic Yoga?
Yoga is at its peak popularity. You’ve likely seen ads for free yoga in aquariums, yoga classes with baby goats running around, or other chaotic forms of this ancient practice. You might be thinking that there may be something to it.
Yoga is actually an incredibly beneficial exercise, and it’s often utilized by legitimate mental health centers. Somatic yoga may be a relatively new term, but it’s not a new concept. It’s an extremely valuable method for some people to resolve trauma and improve mental well-being.
Holistic Wellness at Sequoia Behavioral Health
We understand that trauma can have complex effects on each different person. An integrative approach that works to heal trauma from different angles is often necessary.
At Sequoia, our clients get to experience different recreational therapies and outings in addition to proven talk therapies, tailored to each individual.
Reach out today to learn more.
What Does “Somatic” Mean?
Somatic means “of the body,” stemming from the Greek word soma. In the mental health sphere, it’s used to describe anything that fosters the mind-body connection.
One common therapy modality that showcases the mind-body connection is somatic experiencing. It’s a trauma therapy that is based on the theory that we store trauma in our body after the fact. Trauma is a physical response to stressors. Somatic experiencing works on the hypothesis that our bodies don’t 100% reset after a traumatic experience, and we can’t resolve trauma unless we release it physically.
Read more about somatics and how it connects to trauma therapy in our full guide on somatic experiencing therapy.
There are some theories that trauma exists in our hip joints. While this isn’t scientifically proven, we do know that releasing tension in stiff joints contributes to the release of stress in other parts of our bodies.
Related article: The Polyvagal Theory Ladder.
How Does Yoga Connect to Mental Health?
Yoga is an inherently somatic practice. Its roots are ancient, dating back thousands of years. The word “yoga” comes from sanskrit yuj, meaning “to unite” or “to join.” Since its origin, yoga practices have been done to connect the mind and body.
Yoga is a powerful tool that facilitates this connection and enhances mental health wellness. How does that happen exactly?
Breath Work
We might not realize it, but stress and other mental health struggles affect how we breathe. The fight or flight response to trauma and stress is physical. Unconsciously, our body prepares to respond to a threat. One of those physical responses is shallow breathing.
A big aspect of most types of yoga practices is deep, intentional breathing. You’re encouraged to take breaths in and out as you move through a flow, or sequence of movements.
Consciously breathing this way starts to dissolve other physical stress responses, which can calm our minds. It encourages our nervous system to enter rest mode.
Learn more about how our body responds to trauma and different types of trauma responses.
Mindfulness
Anytime we draw attention to what we are doing, thinking, and feeling, we create a pathway to being able to control them. Mindfulness starts with awareness, and leads to control over things we thought were uncontrollable.
Through the movement and breath work of yoga, a person can learn to be more mindful.
Exercise
It’s well-proven that exercise is good for your mental health. It can release endorphins, often referred to as the “feel good” hormone. This helps relieve anxiety and boost your mood. You can find these results with only a few hours of movement each week, and at any intensity level.
Read more about how mindful movement can help with overall wellbeing.
How Somatic Yoga Works
Somatic yoga helps release trauma from the body through the mind-body connection. The yoga instructor guides you through the practice with extra focus on physical and emotional sensations.
Somatic yoga also often includes a lot of visualization, and mentally actualizing abstract concepts—things like picturing the tension leaving your body, or breathing out your pain.
Another thing that sets somatic yoga apart from more traditional yoga practices is how it is more dedicated to deep healing. Many yoga practices will include the instructor guiding the students through releasing tension, positive thinking, and other goals that everyone can benefit from.
In a trauma healing setting, the instructor will guide you to dig deeper. You’ll spend time scanning your body and emotions, and then spend time working through why you feel that way. Rather than working to clear your mind, you focus only on your experience.
What to Expect From A Somatic Yoga Practice
A somatic yoga class might seem fairly similar to other yoga classes. You’ll perform the same poses, or asanas as you would in many other yoga classes. What is different will be how the instructor takes you through the flow.
They may have you focus on sensations in specific parts of the body, or what different poses make you feel emotionally. While many yoga practices encourage students to listen to their bodies and make adjustments as your physical limitations allow, somatic yoga instructors will encourage you to make adjustments based on the flow of energy or to follow your emotions. If a small adjustment causes a new sensation, you should continue on to see where it takes you.
How It Connects to Mental Health Treatment
Combined with a psychotherapy program, somatic yoga can help with trauma treatment. It can help resolve trauma by addressing symptoms that talk therapy can’t. It approaches healing from a different way than traditional interventions.
Somatic yoga is seen in different therapy modalities, including experiential therapy. For many, somatic yoga creates good habits that they can carry into their time outside of treatment as part of mental health maintenance.
Learn more about how different trauma therapies work together to resolve trauma.
Reach out to the team at Sequoia Behavioral Health to learn more about trauma therapy, and how we utilize somatic exercises to connect the mind and body during mental health treatment.